I've been an Oly dealer for years - and for a long time I drooled over the P400. I insisted that there was no stink-jet printer that could rival a dye sub. Jet printers for photos... please.
I bought the P400 - they dumped them recently and the prices right now are unreal.
Brought it home, hooked it up, and realized that my wife is a 1st grade teacher. And this printer will only print photos. So before I installed the film, I bought an HP7550. Last January Office Depot had it for like $274.99 with a $50 rebate and a $50 gift card...or something crazy like that.
Woah.
This printer, with the nice matt paper for portraits and the gloss for fine prints just rocks. It takes pre-cut 4 X 6 paper (PMAI - Photo Marketing Assn states something like 86 - 90+% of all prints are 4 X 6) as well as 8.5 X 11 sheets. I print a lot of photos, and probably print one or two 8.5 X 11 to every 25 4 X 6's. The oversize print arguement is lost on me.
Three tanks, integrated card slots, color LCD screen, borderless prints and decent software. Supplies are easy to find, its a workhorse in out house. Its recently been discontinued, so prices are falling. You can get this printer for way under $200 on eBay.
Plus, it also will print color for the teacher in the house - cards, invitations, and fun school stuff.
I eBayed the P400. For all of my home printing and gift printing, I use the 7550. For the big stuff (up to 20 X 30) its cheaper and easier to go to Shutterfly. For the giant stuff, I use Kinkos.
I give huge thumbs up to the 7550 - it totally converted this dye sub snob - and for the price, its the best sub $200 photo printer going right now.
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